Making Colombo a vibrant city for international art

What we seem to have missed most about the previous duad of COVID-shrouded years was the lack of events - the galleries were hoarded, the Gratiaen went virtual, and the art festivals which spiced life with raw new ideas and confrontation had to be sanitized away. Needless to say, we were parched for the coffee and conversation after a mind-boggling, pleasantly exhaustive evening.

2022 starts on a better note. As six representatives from some of the leading art houses in Colombo told us recently at Barefoot, the New Year will be replete with art events to make Colombo a veritable ‘must-see’ venue of international art events.

Colomboscope (see above) happens first in this calendar followed by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust’s It is Essential to be There, the first major exhibition to look at Bawa’s practice.

Shayari de Silva, curator for the trust, said that the exhibition has four thematic sections, exploring relationships between ideas, drawings, buildings and places. Over 120 documents from the Bawa archives, most of which have previously never been shown publicly, will be on view.

Held at The Stables at Park Street Mews in Colombo 2, from February 1 to April 3,

11a.m. till 7 p.m. the exhibition is presented in English, Sinhala and Tamil and accompanied by an extensive programme of talks, tours and workshops as well as a website with additional digital content.

Encounters by the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka will run from February 11 to August 28 at the museum’s new location at the Crescat Boulevard.

It brings together 56 artworks as part of an exciting series of changing displays that draw from the art collections of the George Keyt Foundation and John Keells Holdings as the starting point.

The exhibition will include works by 18 modern and contemporary artists and will include a six-month trilingual public programme that is free and open to everyone.

Carmeline Jayasuriya, Head of CSR at John Keells Holdings spoke on the Kala Pola to happen in August/September, providing a platform for over 300 visual artists to show their works.

John Keells will also be organizing the annual Gratiaen Prize in late June/ early July.

Saskia Fernando of the Saskia Fernando Gallery announced the participation of artists Chandraguptha Thenuwara and Saskia Pintelon in the forthcoming Venice

Biennale 2022, Italy with their installations to be part of the Personal Structures Exhibition presented by the European Cultural Centre Venice.

This January SFG is also kicking off the first projects of the A4A production fund, established in 2021 in collaboration with the Udayshanth Fernando Foundation, to support emerging artists.

The fund will support three Sri Lankan artists in the creation, exhibition and publication of their selected project. Finally the #SupportLocalArt Talk Series will establish an independent YouTube channel as an archive of previous talks.

Puja Srivastava, Manager of the Barefoot Gallery announced the revival of the area above the gallery as the Barefoot Loft, with the objective of showcasing more artworks and other forms of expression.

All in all, much to look forward to!